Product Description

Have you ever aspired to gain linguistic immortality by making up a word? Many people such famous writers as Jonathan Swift, Lewis Carroll, and Dr. Seuss, along with many lesser-knowns have coined new words that have endured. But most of the new words people put forward fail to find favor. Why are some new words adopted, while others are ignored? Allan Metcalf explores this question in his fascinating look at new-word creation. In surveying past coinages and proposed new words, Metcalf discerns lessons for linguistic longevity. He shows us, for instance, why the humorist Gelett Burgess succeeded in contributing the words blurb and bromide to the language but failed to win anyone over to bleesh or diabob. Metcalf examines terms invented to describe political causes and social phenomena (silent majority, Gen-X), terms coined in books (edge city, Catch-22), brand names and words derived from them (aspirin, Ping-Pong), and words that derive from misunderstandings (cherry, kudo). He develops a scale for predicting the success of newly coined words and uses it to foretell which emerging words will outlast the twenty-first century. In this highly original work, Metcalf shows us how to spin syllabic straw into linguistic gold.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1216225 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-16
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .56" h x 4.68" w x 7.94" l, .57 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In 1990, Metcalf (How We Talk: American Regional English Today), executive secretary of the American Dialect Society, had the idea that the ADS should choose an annual New Word of the Year. That year, the winner was the shortlived bushlips ("insincere political rhetoric"). Some of the ADS's other choices fell into obscurity just as quickly, prompting Metcalf to write this entertaining investigation of which new words have staying power, and why. He discusses winners (1941's teenager) and losers (1995's schmoozeoisie, "a class of people who earn their living by talk"); reveals the forgotten jokes behind familiar terms like couch potato and gerrymander; and shows that the success of a word has little to do with whether or not it fills a gap in the English language. Metcalf also describes his system for predicting the success of au courant words (he gives weapons-grade high marks for endurance, while consigning quarterlife crisis to the ash heap). Edifying and humorous, this little book is irresistible fun.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The author's How We Talk: American Regional English Today (2000) was written mainly for writers and people whose interest in the language is of a rather scholarly nature. This new book, on the other hand, has something for everyone. In lively, entertaining prose, it traces the origins of a dazzling array of words and phrases: Marlboro Man, Frankenfood, blurb, skycap, quark, scofflaw (there was a contest to coin this useful word). It also introduces us to a fascinating array of would-be words, coinages that never quite caught on (linner, for example, was intended to designate the meal between lunch and dinner). The author, the executive secretary of the American Dialect Society, offers tips on creating a new word: make it something whose meaning is self-evident, introduce it subtly, and keep using it. The book is jam-packed with treats for word lovers, and it blows the lid off some common myths. Shakespeare, for example, might not have invented a lot of the words he's credited with. A must-read for word buffs. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Allan A. Metcalf is a professor of English at MacMurray College, executive secretary of the American Dialect Society, and author of books on language and writing. His books on language include AMERICA IN SO MANY WORDS (with David K. Barnhart) and THE WORLD IN SO MANY WORDS. His books on writing include RESEARCH TO THE POINT and ESSENTIALS OF WRITING TO THE POINT. He lives in Jacksonville, Illinois.